Karen Read trial: 4 things to know about her retrial

The retrial of Karen Read – the woman accused of striking her boyfriend with her SUV in 2022 and leaving him to die alone in the snow outside of a house party – is underway in Massachusetts.

The backstory:

Prosecutors say Read backed her SUV into John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, after dropping him off at a party in a Boston suburb, and returned hours later to find him dead. Defense attorneys say she was a victim of a conspiracy involving the police, and they say they have evidence pointing to the real killer. 

Meanwhile:

Read has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. Her second trial started Tuesday after a mistrial was declared last year – jurors said they were at an impasse. Read faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. 

Read’s case has sparked national interest, fueled by the strange circumstances surrounding the charges and a Max documentary, "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read."

Here are four things to know about the retrial: 

Alternate juror from first trial joins defense team

Attorney Victoria George, an alternate juror from Read’s first trial, has been added to Read’s defense team, according to CBS News. 

George was not a part of the first jury’s deliberations. 

Read has costumed supporters gathered outside courthouse

Supporters of Karen Read have assembled outside court in advance of her new trial – and some are dressed in costumes. 

The scene among supporters Tuesday was similar to a reunion, with people hugging one another and calling out their names.

Ashlyn Wade, a Read supporter from Canton, where John O’Keefe was killed, said she was there to hopefully see Read cleared of charges.

"I’m here for justice," she said. "The murderer going to jail and Karen being exonerated — that would be justice."

Dennis Sweeney, dressed as the judge in the case and wearing a pink T-shirt emblazoned with the word "assassin." which was inspired by Read’s defense team, said he returned for the second trial because: "Karen Read is factually innocent and we want her freed."

Some of Read’s supporters spread out a picnic blanket covered in free snacks outside the courthouse.

Read said ‘I hit him,’ but later said O’Keefe was hit by a plow

On Tuesday, Kerry Roberts, a friend of O’Keefe’s, testified about receiving an early morning phone call from Read and that Read told her, "Kerry! Kerry! Kerry! John is dead."

Read also said, "I think something happened to John. I think he got hit by a plow. He didn’t come home last night," Roberts testified, describing her friend as "hysterical" during the call. She said Read also told her that "We drank so much that I don’t remember anything from last night."

But paramedic Timothy Nuttall testified Tuesday that Read had blood on her face at the scene of O’Keefe’s death and said, "I hit him, I hit him, I hit him."

Police testified during Read’s first trial that she had blood on her face from attempting to perform CPR on O’Keefe.

Defense says police cover-up led to Read’s charges

Read’s defense team claims she was framed, and that O’Keefe was actually killed inside the home during a fight with another partygoer and then dragged outside. In the first trial, defense attorneys suggested investigators focus on Read because she was a "convenient outsider" who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects.

Alan Jackson, one of Read’s lawyers, described the state’s case as hinging on fired state trooper Michael Proctor, whom he described as a "cancer."

Proctor was the lead investigator in the Read case. Jackson said Proctor is the key to the state’s case and is also its "Achilles heel."

Jackson listed a litany of failures in the investigation, including that investigators didn’t search the house, secure the crime scene or properly collect evidence. He then touched on sexist and crude texts about Read’s family and colleagues that surfaced during the first trial and eventually led to Proctor’s firing.

Jackson characterized Read as victimized by a police culture that sought to protect fellow cops.

Jackson said O’Keefe’s injuries do not suggest he was hit by a car at all.

"Not a bruise," the defense lawyer said.

Jackson told the jury that they will learn O’Keefe had abrasions consistent with being bitten by a dog. He said the injury to O’Keefe’s head was also not consistent with falling backwards onto the ground, as prosecutors alleged.

Jackson said medical evidence will also establish that hypothermia was not a factor, as prosecutors alleged. He said O’Keefe was injured somewhere warm and then moved, and that establishes reasonable doubt.

Crime and Public SafetyMassachussetts